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We've already dealt with the rib rupturing Mr. Lind over at New Poetry, Candice. Like shootin' buffalo from a train. Just weren't no sport in it. CP Candice Ward wrote: > > Check out this hilarious (and error-riddled) article in PROSPECT, which is > perhaps even more insulting to Brit poetry than to the American scene it > targets. Its author, Michael Lind, is based in Washington, so maybe we can > sic Carlo on him--Candice > > (From the July 6th Chronicle of Hire Ed) > > A glance at the July issue of "Prospect": > The sorry state of contemporary American poetry > > Michael Lind, a journalist, poet, and novelist, skewers the > current state of American poetry and places the blame squarely > at the feet of T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and American academics > who have warped poetry into an esoteric, "coterie art that would > ward off the uninitiated." Mr. Lind sees this as a recent > phenomenon; it was only in the 20's and 30's, he reminds us, > that Robert Frost was a celebrity and Edna St. Vincent Millay > had her own radio show. In the United States, Mr. Lind write> grimly, > "almost all of the prestige poetry is written in theearly 20th-century mode > of 'free verse' -- that is to say, lines > of prose chopped up at arbitrary points -- and almost all it > consists of relatively short poems." Compare this with Bri, > Mr. Lind continues, where star poets like James Fenton and Wendy Cope "use > traditional verse technique to write about a > range of subjects in a variety of genres, including political > satire and light verse." The Catch-22 of America's academic > poetry, he writes, is that "hardly anyone writes poetry in the > U.S. other than professors -- and hardly anybody reads it, other > than the professors who write it." Mr. Lind hails Dana Gioia as > a saving grace of formalism in American poetry; one whose > mastery of form, lyrical prowess, diversity of technique, and > musical cadences harken back to the poetic days of yore. Though > Mr. Gioia may be "considered a slow writer by members of the > campus poetry subculture who crank out a new collection of poems > every year or so (it's easy to be prolific when your lines don't > scan or rhyme)," Mr. Lind sneers, there's no need to worry about > the peanut gallery. It's just full of envious "American poets > who cannot tell the difference between a heroic quatrain and an > Alcaic stanza [but] have convinced themselves that they are > poets." > > The article is available online at > http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/whats_new.html